THE FORM AND MANUFACTURE OF SHOES 667 



l)ars. It may thus be made either to defend the frog or the heels, which- 

 ever may be in fault, and it is one of the most valuable aids to veterinary 

 surgery. Should the frog be more prominent than the crust, the shoe 

 may be made thin in proportion, at the part where it covers the former, 

 and by this means it may be made exactly to fit the two when it is desired 

 to divide the weight between them. There are many weak-heeled harness 

 horses which would do their work far better if they were permanently shod 

 in this way, and but for the danger of pulling these shoes ofi', and the little 

 hold which they take of the ground, hacks might also sometimes be advan- 

 tageously shod with the bar shoe. It is unsightly, certainly, and at present 

 marks the existence of some disease, and for these reasons it is now seldom 

 employed, except on compulsion. 



10. The patten is merely a bar shoo made square at the heels and 

 turned down at the back, so as to raise this part an inch from the ground. 

 The object is to relieve the flexor tendons or suspensory ligament. It is 

 also sometimes used in curb, with a view to relax the calcaneo- cuboid liga- 

 ment, and the tendon of the gastrocnemius internus muscle. 



When the choice of the shoe is arrived at, the next thing is to make 

 it and put it on. The former is a mechanical operation, which an scarcely 



FiQ. 124.— Machine-madk Shoe— Fore-foot. Fig. 125.— Machine-made Shoe— Hind-foot. 



be learnt without actual demonstration, and I shall omit all account of it 

 here, and refer the reader to Mr. Hunting's admirable treatise,^ from which 

 much of this chapter is derived, or to the larger work compiled by Messrs. 

 Dollar and Wheatley.^ 



11. A leather sole is often introduced between the shoe and the foot, 

 for the double purpose of lessening the vibration and protecting the sole 

 and frog from injury by blows against an irregular surface, such as new- 

 laid gravel, or granite, or rough paving. Sometimes, when the frog and 

 sole are sound, but from the action being very high there is a tendency 

 to jar the foot, the leather is cut to the exact shape of the shoe inside and 

 out, leaving the sole and frog uncovered ; but in general a piece of leather 



1 The Art of Horse-Shoeing : A Manual for Farriers, 

 " Horse- Shoeing, and the Horse's Foot. 



